a gentle persuasion

When my children were small I had the same problem. You don't want to force him to eat something he doesn't want to. Although, some parents think that you shoule. I believe this only sets the rest of their life to associate healthy foods with something unpleasant. Instead, what I did, was I got a blender and made the fruit smoothies. You can either add yogurt to the fruit and whip it up. Or, ice or even a tablespoon of ice cream (let them see you doing that so they will associate something good with it). For vegetables I used to grate them up and put them in hamburgers or meatloaf. You can grate carrots, squash, broccoli, califlower, etc. Don't put too much in the first time, you can add a little more each time you make it so they won't notice the change. Before you know it they will be used to the flavor and you can try offering a little bite of the vegetable on their plates. Eventually they will eat it. Also, call broccoli "little trees" and califlower "little bushes." Also, you can try to make a game of eating healthy food with a reward. But, just start with one small piece, don't overwhelm them. And, of course, they have to see you eating it and enjoying it. Make a big deal of how much you like it. Then when they eat a piece reward them with something they like - but not candy or something bad for them. Good luck - I hope these ideas help.

Get the book Deceptively Delicious. It is chock full of ways to get vegetables into kids.

You can turn to cartoon characters for help. In my experience, I became fond of carrots and spinach as a kid because I often watched Bugs Bunny and Popeye, and how they managed to outwit the bad guys whenever they ate their vegetables.